A NEW version of a guide to a much loved trail celebrating Thomas Hardy's Wessex has been launched.

The Hardy Way guide is back by popular demand 20 years after it was originally published.

It guides walkers through a 220-mile trail around the landscape that inspired the Dorset writer.

The book was first published back in 1995 and the print run of 3,000 copies sold out.

It was one of the first books to combine a long distance walk with extracts from the writings of one of England's literary greats.

The trail starts at Hardy's birthplace in Lower Bockhampton and finishes at the churchyard in Stinsford where he is buried.

Author of the guide Margaret Marande said she had revised the guide after discussions with the Hardy Society and Dorset County Council to mark renewed interest in Hardy.

The major movie adaptation of Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd is due to be released in May and this year also marks the 175th anniversary of the writer's birth.

A special launch event for the revised book was hale a the Thomas Hardy's Birthplace Visitors Centre at Higher Bockhampton.

Author Margaret said revising the book was a great chance to go out and walk the trail again and said it was also important because much had changed in the two decades since it was first published.

She said: "A lot had changed on the grounds so it was very necessary and needed re-writing very badly.

"It's been re-walked and brought up to date."

Margaret, from Fontwell Magna in north Dorset, added: "It was really good and I really enjoyed walking it again."

Margaret said that she was also very keen that the guide should prove a boost to the local economy and she has been working with bed and breakfasts and other accommodation providers in the area.

She said: "What I do feely quite strongly is one thing is I want to give it as a legacy to Dorset because I think it's worthwhile and the other thing is I hope it will boost the local economy.

"I have been going round to bed and breakfasts and hotels and they are very interested in it."

Margaret said that the guide was also unique in the way it carried extract's of Hardy's works on the left hand page to link in with the trail guide on the right hand page so anyone walking the trail has immediate access to references in the great writer's novels and poems.

It also features lined illustrations and maps and Margaret said it is designed to also be very accessible to those who are not so familiar with Hardy and just keen to enjoy the stunning Dorset landscape.